The Start of a Friendship
by Blu Rose
Summary: AffinityShipping?OneShot. Even legendary trainers and champions can have problems in the beginning of their journeys. For Red, it was his first Pokemon, Pikachu.


**Do I really need to explain this? It's Red and his badass Pikachu (AffinityShipping), inspired by the scene in the anime's first episode. Hope you enjoy.**

**X-X-X**

**Start of a Friendship  
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It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair to him, his circumstances. The Pikachu had lost many friends in Viridian Forest because of people who wanted an Electric type for their teams or just wanted a _'cute little Pikachu'_. He used to belong to a girl like that in Viridian City who dressed him up and sprayed him with perfume—things he didn't like. One Thundershock was all it took for her to call him a beast and release him out into the wild on the route between Viridian City and Pallet Town.

And then he was caught again and found himself in the ownership of another human. A young boy named Red this time. Compared to his former owner, the boy was…odd. His face was apathetic—even after the Pikachu first shocked him after winning their first match against the one named Blue and his Eevee. When they left Pallet Town, Pikachu wasn't following Red, but the trail of food that he left. The few trainers they fought en route to Viridian City they lost to because of Pikachu's disobedience and refusal to fight, which led to Red forfeiting and giving trainers his money. They weren't even halfway to the next town and Red had less than half of the money he left with.

At some point, they stopped in the middle of the forest off the dirt path. Pikachu snuck into Red's bag to get another snack cake to munch on while his trainer sat on a tree stump, staring out into space. Before he even bit the cake, Pikachu took notice of the dark-haired boy's expression. His eyes were just as apathetic as ever, but it looked like he was straining to not break down and cry. He had a disobedient Pokémon that was just caught that day with no training whatsoever, the only one he had, and he hadn't won a battle with it since leaving Pallet Town. Maybe beating Blue was a fluke and he just wasn't _meant_ to be a Pokémon Trainer.

Maybe he could trade it for something nicer when he got to Viridian City…

A rustling in the tall grass made both boy and Pikachu look up. In the distance he could make out the form of a Pokémon. The Pokédex said it was a Raticate—the evolved form of Rattata. Not something you normally see outside of Pallet… Maybe he could catch it. A stupid idea, really, but when your only Pokémon is a disobedient Pikachu, you couldn't help but think it best to just catch the best Pokémon you could to cover up that weakness… So he simply threw the Poké Ball at the Raticate. And it didn't even hit the rat Pokémon. It _missed_. Pikachu swore from the way Red flinched that he was cursing in his head.

The Raticate growled and, thinking Red wanted a Pokémon battle, lunged for Pikachu. The electric mouse Pokémon wound up choking on the snack cake as the larger Pokémon clicked its giant fangs, but soon found himself being picked up and held up over Red's head by the red-clad boy himself. So instead of biting Pikachu, the Raticate sank its fangs into Red's leg.

Pikachu's eyes widened. He couldn't understand why the human trainer did that? Wasn't _he_ supposed to be the one who was supposed to fight, not _him_? He snapped out of his surprise when Red gave a cry of pain. The Raticate was biting down harder on Red's leg, perhaps aiming to break the bone, but Red wasn't budging. Was he really going through this pain for Pikachu's sake?

The electric mouse couldn't take it anymore after the boy gave another cry of pain. A quick Thundershock aimed down at the Raticate was enough to make it let go of Red and run off. The wuss…

Red fell back and landed on his behind, breathing heavily as he clutched Pikachu in his arms. He didn't say a word as he stared at the Pokémon in surprise. Pikachu just defended him. It drove away that Raticate for _him_. If he were capable of it, the newbie trainer would cry tears of joy. But instead, he gave a small smile and lightly stroked the electric mouse's fur, and for the first time since they left Pallet Town, Pikachu smiled back.

As Red got his things together and limped back towards Route 1 with Pikachu on his shoulder, both had a feeling that this journey wouldn't turn out so bad after all.

**X-X-X**

**Review for the sake of Blu.**


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